The Eames Witch Project

Warning: May Cause Motion Sickness.

The Highlight Reel: July Edition

Like most blogs, I generally only share the particularly funny or noteworthy things that happen around here--and I definitely only post pictures that I feel are decent. But, I thought it was time to let you in on some of the day to day operations. The stuff that gets edited out. Here, you'll find some of the updates I send Josh, so he know what monkey business Eames is up to. And you'll find some pictures that didn't make the cut. I think both tell their own story.

All of the following are excerpted from chat conversation had during July 2010. Some may not be safe for work:

07/06/10 @ 9:36am--I just caught Eames standing on top of the console. He used the chair to climb up, stood on top, and proceeded to shuffle through records. I was making pancakes and only realized he was up there when I heard records fall.
07/08/10 @ 1:38pm--I put the pillows in the cases and Eames LOVES them. Which, of course, means that he's rubbing the white pillows all over the floor as he pushes them around and lies on them.

Eames doing the earthquake drill at a SLC hotel.

07/09/10 @ 8:59am--Nico just attached himself to Eames's face.
07/09/10 @ 2:50pm--By the way, your son has figured out that he can climb up the high chair by grabbing the seat and stepping up on the platform.
07/13/10 @ 11:43am--Your son just face planted in the driveway. Scraped forehead and a mouth full of dirt.

With sunscreen in his hair and a scab on his nose.

07/20/10 @ 9:20am--Eames just fell off the arm of the couch and landed butt first in his toy box. He's fine. But it was just like a cartoon arms and legs sticking out hte top of the box.
07/20/10 @ 9:41am--So I just heard a squeal from Eames and I look over and he's standing in his toy box but he's bent over and his head is caught under the rim so his butt is just sticking out and he can't stand up.

Destroying flowers in Louisville.

07/21/10 @ 11:08am--You know how Aspen left her suticase and stuff in the living room? Eames is having a good time going through it.He just found her toothbrush and is combing his hair and Simi with it.

Doing God-Only-Knows-What to Simi.

07/22/10 @ 12:42--Eames keeps trying to bite me.

07/26/10 @ 9:36am--Eames just tore apart every record in the basement. He's on a rampage.

07/27/10 @ 11:51am--I'm teaching Eames how to eat a sandwich. He doesn't quite get it.
07/27/10 @ 12:06pm--There's a character named Eames in Inception. Weird.
07/27/10 @ 1:37pm--Eames just filled Polly's bowl with the hose, then got down on his hands and knees and tried to drink out of it.

We've wasted a lot of water this summer.

07/29/10 @ 3:53pm--Eames is a bit grouchy today and I think I'd rather drive with him than sit here and listen to him bitch.

He does not think I'm funny.

07/30/10 @ 11:08am--Your son is a menace. He's standing on the plastic box you left next to the couch, swinging a broom around his head.
07/30/10 @ 12:41pm--Eames just climbed up his high chair. Again. He high stepped on to the second black bar and pulled himself up.
07/30/10 @ 12:43pm--And now he's pulling on his penis, so...double yes.
07/30/10 @ 12:44pm--Also, polly ate his poop.
07/30/10 @ 12:46pm--Now, he's waving at every bus that goes by--and some of the cars. I'm sure all the people driving by like getting waved at by a naked baby tugging on his penis.

A little poke and giggle.

Excerpts from the Summer of Aspen

Well, after what seemed like a short visit, Aspen headed back home to California this past Friday. It seems like we hardly saw her, since she was in volleyball camp for half the visit and asleep for the other half (Remember how tiring being a teen was? Apparently, it still is.), but we still got a good dose of teen-ness when we did see her.
________________
Me: Aspen, did you have breakfast?
A: I had some grapes.
Me: You aren't eating lunch until 12. You need to eat something before you workout.
A: ...
Me: Also, you need to stop being passive aggressive.
A: What's passive aggressive?
Me:....
Me: Will you eat pancakes if I make them?
A: Yes.
Me: Of course. Yay tan food!
______________________
Aspen comes home from the overnight weekend camp and leaves her suitcase on the floor of the livingroom. Eames has a great time going through her stuff. He finds her toothbrush and proceeds to brush not only his hair with it but also Simi's.
_____________________
Me (talking on the phone): Hey Kathy. Can you do me a favor and peek out your window to make sure Aspen isn't letting Eames run into traffic?
Kathy (sounding surprised): Oh, I have him.
Me (sounding more surprised): You do?
Kathy: Yeah. Aspen brought to me about 3:30 and said, "Can you watch him? We can't get cooking done. I thought she was going over there.
Me: Huh. She volunteered to watch him at about 3:10. I thought she was outside playing in Jenai's yard. Would've been nice if she's told me...

Me (5:30, in the kitchen): Aspen, you know how when your plans change and you go somewhere else and you have to call and let us know that you'll be in a different place?
Aspen: Yeah.
Me: Well, the same thing applies to when the 15 month old's plans change and he's not where you said he'd be.
Aspen: Oh.
________________________________
Aspen: There's nothing normal about me.
Josh: Name one thing about you that isn't normal.
Aspen: I have flat feet and I pronate.
Me: Most people pronate. But, Nike convinced us it's not natural and now they're rich.
Aspen: Well, I have flat feet anyway.
____________________

Colorado already misses her.

Eames On His Chariot

...if only he could actually lasso Nico.

Eames Tries to Lasso a Cat

Please ignore the destruction. I'm in the middle of rearranging...

And I have a one year old.

And he distracts me with these kind of antics when I should be cleaning.

Speaking of His Sense of Humor...

Loss

Yesterday, I went to my first prenatal doctor's appointment.

After an hour spent going over my previous pregnancy and mapping out this one, the nurse wheeled in the ultrasound machine.

Neither she nor the doctor could find a heartbeat.

They call it a missed miscarriage. Apparently, the fetus stopped developing a week or so ago, yet my body hasn't quite figured it out. All those plans are suddenly gone. Instead, I have 3 options: 1) wait for my body to catch up, which it hopefully will in anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, 2) use medicine to make my body expel the fetus, or 3) surgically remove it. All these options seem less than stellar.

So, in the meantime, I'm waiting a couple of days to see how things go. It's kind of surreal to still be pregnant, feel pregnant, and yet...not be. That is, I think, the worst part. Realistically, though, the physical part is probably the easiest. The fetus wasn't healthy and nature has taken its course.

Emotionally, it's difficult. I bought "Big Brother" pajamas for Eames on Monday. They're sitting on the table still, because I haven't found time in the midst of summer session to wash them and put them away. Luckily, we could choose to have another baby when Eames is 5 and they'd probably still fit him--slow grower that he is. Last week, I moved the list of baby names we came up with last time around to my laptop, so I could start thinking about names for this one. And, of course, I'd already started making room mentally and emotionally for another baby.

Because it is exciting, this family building. More so than I ever would have imagined. Unlike my career, which I have continual doubts about, I feel like I'm good at this. That it really matters.

So, this is a blow in some respects. But, despite the fact that it sounds cliche, I really, truly believe that everything works out for the best. My life is proof of that. I had already started rearranging our life to fit in a new little person, and this changes things. Suddenly, opportunities that I'd written off for the near-future are feasible. Our life looks different than it did a two days ago--for better and worse.

Undoubtedly, this is sad. And I cried my fair share of tears last night, leaving my eyes swollen and head aching this morning. But, we will heal. I will heal. And, as I was reminded this morning, we have been incredibly lucky. Josh and I found eachother. I never imagined I'd love someone as much as I do him. Aspen is turning into a beautiful woman. My parents are halthy and happy and in love--still--though they are all too far away. And Eames. After a sorrowful night, Eames reminded me this morning that life is so, so good by tangling himself up in curtains and headbutting me and the cats, and walking around with a cotton swab hanging off his lip like a cigarette. His sense of humor is growing each day and that makes me happy. Really happy.

So, for now, we remain three.